Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

U.S. looking to keep Gitmo tribunals

|
|
 
  
Published: May 2, 2009 at 11:27 AM

WASHINGTON, May 2 (UPI) -- The White House is reviving a modified version of former U.S. President George Bush's military tribunals for terror detainees, administration sources say.

The moves, which will almost certainly draw protests from human rights advocates who supported President Barack Obama because of his promises to abolish the tribunals, are being made necessary by major obstacles to trying some terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in U.S. federal courts, unnamed sources told Saturday's New York Times.

Administration officials are concerned that judges will make it all but impossible to try detainees who were subjected to harsh interrogation techniques that many call torture, or to use hearsay evidence gathered against them by spy agencies, the newspaper said.

Because of the legal hurdles, Obama administration officials are reportedly seeking to modify the Bush-era military commissions by providing more legal protections for the terrorism suspects.

"The more they look at it, the more commissions don't look as bad as they did on Jan. 20 (when Obama took office)," an anonymous official told the Times.

Topics: Barack Obama, George Bush
Recommended Stories
© 2009 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
The Tibetan Moniam Festival in China Super Bowl XLVI ticker tape victory parade Proposition 8 ruled unconstitutional in California
AARP Movies for Grownups Award Gala The Most Desirable Women of 2012 Snowy Owls make appearance in Washington
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 15
Rose McGowan at The Heart Truth's Red Dress Fall 2012 Collections at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week In New York
View Caption
fark
38KKK air bags keep woman safe in car crash
NJ DOT committee presents recommendations on ways to reduce train-related deaths. #1: Stop getting...
Another amenity your car is missing: A wood burning stove. Talk to this guy about getting that set...
If you think doing your taxes by yourself is confusing, try getting them done at a tax business...
Photoshop this night on the town
Rhinoceros accidentally killed by conservationists during anti-poaching demo